USA, September 17, 2010
Last night, I left Charlotte behind, and while writing this, I am on the train to New Orleans. The train system is so much different than ours! I had to check luggage, wait until it was time for boarding and before that, nobody could access the platform, visitors weren’t allowed to go onto the platform, they assigned a seat… and it’s frickin’ cold. Stupid airconditioning. It’s like the temperature is being regulated for the 95 degrees weather, instead of the nighttime and they forget to turn it down.
You know, I think the Dutch and European train system in general can be compared to the commuter rails you have over here, on which you just can take all your luggage and jump on and off whenever you want if you have a ticket. They wanted to see my passport twice already, and the seating ticket, too! Wow.
I met two guys on the train. Steve is retired, and he’s going to New Orleans with a guy he took under his wings, Ronnie. Ronnie’s going to New Orleans because his family lives there and his son is going off to Afghanistan, and Steve basically takes him there and is going to make sure he won’t be in trouble ;) Steve treats Ronnie as a teenage son, really. They’re really nice guys! When I got on the train in Charlotte at 2.30, I got so cold! Steve noticed that, and said he’d look for something for me and then, Ronnie came running up offering me his jacket. Steve actually told me that he’s been working in the Netherlands for quite a while and he could tell me a lot about his stay there, which was kind of cool. I tried to sleep for a little while but I think that, all in all, I only got three hours of sleep. The seats are comfy enough as seats, but not as beds and aside from that, it’s the airco that really makes it hard to rest because my hands, legs, and face are cold all the time. All they have are pillows and I guess a lot of people knew that the airco is quite cold, because everyone but me brought a blanket. I should’ve taken your offer, Amy, and I’m so glad I decided not to wear the summer dress ;)
Because on top of everything going on in her life, Jamye also got sick (but she’ll try to come), they will actually give me a ride to the hotel with their rental car. They both told me that I shouldn’t go walk around the train station area in New Orleans, and that I should only go into the French Quarter during daytime because there’s a lot of cops in civilian clothes. I don’t know if it’s that bad, but I’m taking their word for it. The older guy, Steve, looked pretty normal, but Ronnie was a little weird. He’d tell me that he used to be an alcoholist but that Steve and his wife took good care of him. They also told me not to go into the station area by myself. They offered me a ride to the hotel. Ronnie, in appearance, looks like he’s a junkie because he is so skinny and has this harsh look on his face, so when he came to check up to see if I wanted to get that ride with him, a lady turned around when he left, saying: “Please don’t go with him, and promise me you take a cab!!” She looked really worried, but I did get the ride because Steve and I spent a lot of time discussing everything you can imagine. He worked in the Netherlands, too, so he’s familiar with the country and still knows some words ;)
We have a couple of half hour stops, and there’s one woman in a wheelchair in our wagon. Apparently, she wanted to get out in Atlanta but she didn’t tell anybody that she wanted so. So, when the others who wanted to smoke or just stretch their legs went back in, she was screaming at one of the conductors. Apparently, the lady wanted the conductors to be clairvoyant because “if they would SAY that everybody wanted to get off, then it was not fair that she couldn’t and it was all the train’s fault and she would sue them in court on Monday because they’re discriminating against her and if they couldn’t keep their promise that everybody could go off to get some fresh air than they shouldn’t say something like that because she’d been waiting for someone to fetch her….” And all that at 8, after I just woke up O_o
The conductor really tried to stay calm, and said that because there’s only one wheelchair elevator, she should’ve informed them so they could’ve informed the station crew, but she didn’t want to hear any of that and just kept on yelling. After ten minutes of trying to reason with her, the conductor just turned around and left, because the woman would stick to her story that she was discriminated against. Two hours later, she’s still yelling ;)
I’m tired, and for the first time this trip I got rid of the contacts I’m usually wearing, and I put on the glasses. Tried to sleep a little around 4, but there were just too much people walking up and down the wagon, meh.
~*~
I'm at the Sheraton, in New Orleans. Funny; Sheraton is actually the only hotel I've been in that actually charges for internet in the room, so that's why I'm leeching off their free lobby-internet ;) They cannot fool me!
We got picked up by Ronnie’s brother Stevie, who took us to the rental car company and Steve and Ronnie decided to book a hotel room too, because neither of us slept a lot in the past 48 hours. We had dinner together and talked about a lot of things, including politics, history, family and religion, which was pretty cool. They made me promise to be very very careful in New Orleans, which I of course did.
It’s time for bed now, though! Jamye will be here in the morning again, so yay :)
You know, I think the Dutch and European train system in general can be compared to the commuter rails you have over here, on which you just can take all your luggage and jump on and off whenever you want if you have a ticket. They wanted to see my passport twice already, and the seating ticket, too! Wow.
I met two guys on the train. Steve is retired, and he’s going to New Orleans with a guy he took under his wings, Ronnie. Ronnie’s going to New Orleans because his family lives there and his son is going off to Afghanistan, and Steve basically takes him there and is going to make sure he won’t be in trouble ;) Steve treats Ronnie as a teenage son, really. They’re really nice guys! When I got on the train in Charlotte at 2.30, I got so cold! Steve noticed that, and said he’d look for something for me and then, Ronnie came running up offering me his jacket. Steve actually told me that he’s been working in the Netherlands for quite a while and he could tell me a lot about his stay there, which was kind of cool. I tried to sleep for a little while but I think that, all in all, I only got three hours of sleep. The seats are comfy enough as seats, but not as beds and aside from that, it’s the airco that really makes it hard to rest because my hands, legs, and face are cold all the time. All they have are pillows and I guess a lot of people knew that the airco is quite cold, because everyone but me brought a blanket. I should’ve taken your offer, Amy, and I’m so glad I decided not to wear the summer dress ;)
Because on top of everything going on in her life, Jamye also got sick (but she’ll try to come), they will actually give me a ride to the hotel with their rental car. They both told me that I shouldn’t go walk around the train station area in New Orleans, and that I should only go into the French Quarter during daytime because there’s a lot of cops in civilian clothes. I don’t know if it’s that bad, but I’m taking their word for it. The older guy, Steve, looked pretty normal, but Ronnie was a little weird. He’d tell me that he used to be an alcoholist but that Steve and his wife took good care of him. They also told me not to go into the station area by myself. They offered me a ride to the hotel. Ronnie, in appearance, looks like he’s a junkie because he is so skinny and has this harsh look on his face, so when he came to check up to see if I wanted to get that ride with him, a lady turned around when he left, saying: “Please don’t go with him, and promise me you take a cab!!” She looked really worried, but I did get the ride because Steve and I spent a lot of time discussing everything you can imagine. He worked in the Netherlands, too, so he’s familiar with the country and still knows some words ;)
We have a couple of half hour stops, and there’s one woman in a wheelchair in our wagon. Apparently, she wanted to get out in Atlanta but she didn’t tell anybody that she wanted so. So, when the others who wanted to smoke or just stretch their legs went back in, she was screaming at one of the conductors. Apparently, the lady wanted the conductors to be clairvoyant because “if they would SAY that everybody wanted to get off, then it was not fair that she couldn’t and it was all the train’s fault and she would sue them in court on Monday because they’re discriminating against her and if they couldn’t keep their promise that everybody could go off to get some fresh air than they shouldn’t say something like that because she’d been waiting for someone to fetch her….” And all that at 8, after I just woke up O_o
The conductor really tried to stay calm, and said that because there’s only one wheelchair elevator, she should’ve informed them so they could’ve informed the station crew, but she didn’t want to hear any of that and just kept on yelling. After ten minutes of trying to reason with her, the conductor just turned around and left, because the woman would stick to her story that she was discriminated against. Two hours later, she’s still yelling ;)
I’m tired, and for the first time this trip I got rid of the contacts I’m usually wearing, and I put on the glasses. Tried to sleep a little around 4, but there were just too much people walking up and down the wagon, meh.
~*~
I'm at the Sheraton, in New Orleans. Funny; Sheraton is actually the only hotel I've been in that actually charges for internet in the room, so that's why I'm leeching off their free lobby-internet ;) They cannot fool me!
We got picked up by Ronnie’s brother Stevie, who took us to the rental car company and Steve and Ronnie decided to book a hotel room too, because neither of us slept a lot in the past 48 hours. We had dinner together and talked about a lot of things, including politics, history, family and religion, which was pretty cool. They made me promise to be very very careful in New Orleans, which I of course did.
It’s time for bed now, though! Jamye will be here in the morning again, so yay :)